


Helter-Skelter Play

by marcaskane (noblydonedonnanoble)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Halloween, I have such an extensive background story in mind for this fic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, with a little bit of angst because Marcus is protective of his children, with the Griffin-Kane family, yet all that happened was this Halloween oneshot lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-27 23:33:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8421955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/marcaskane
Summary: Marcus and Abby host a Halloween party for their children.[written for Kabby Trick-or-Treat]





	

                Clarke breached the subject of Halloween around the middle of September, while the entire Griffin-Kane family was sitting around the dinner table. By this point, they’d already gone around the table to describe the details of their day, and conversation had died down a little bit.

                “Oh, Wells told me something interesting today,” she started.

                Both Abby and Marcus gave little hums of curiosity; Bellamy and Octavia looked up from their food.

                “He said that Mr. Jaha is going to be out of town over Halloween weekend, so they won’t be throwing a Halloween party this year.”

                “No!” Octavia exclaimed, her eyes widening slightly. “Wells’s party is one of the best parts of the year.”

                “That’s really too bad,” Marcus agreed with a slight frown. “Hasn’t it been a tradition for your class since kindergarten?”

                Clarke nodded. “Yes. Every year. It’s a bummer. His dad said that they might not do it next year, either, because our grade will be bigger at the middle school and it’ll make the party a hassle.”

                Abby glanced at the faces around the table: Bellamy, who looked relatively indifferent; Octavia, who had become grumpy and given up on her vegetables; Marcus, who was still frowning thoughtfully as he chewed; and Clarke, who was also looking between everyone, her expression surprisingly neutral considering the bad news that she’d just delivered.

                Then everything clicked. “No.”

                Everyone turned to look at Abby in one fluid motion. Marcus, Octavia, and Bellamy were all clearly confused, but Clarke said, “Mom… I didn’t even say anything.”

                “You were going to. I’m sorry, Clarke, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

                Marcus swallowed the food that he’d been carefully chewing. “Just so we’re clear, Clarke wants us to host a Halloween party, right?”

                Several voices chimed in at once: Abby with a sigh and a, “Yes”; Octavia with an, “Oh please, can we?”; and Bellamy, with an exasperated, “I don’t want all those kids running around our house!”

                Clarke, however, remained silent. She stared at Marcus, her eyes hopeful, as though he might be the one to see sense and realize how great her scheme was.

                “Wells’s father throws a lot of parties,” Marcus said carefully. “They have a really great space for entertaining, and especially for entertaining kids. I don’t know how your mom feels, but I will say that my concern with a party would be that even though our house isn’t small, there wouldn’t be nearly as much room for your whole class. We have a great yard, but if the weather’s bad…”

                Abby gave Marcus a relived smile, then she reached out for her daughter, smoothing a hand gently over her shoulder. “I agree with Marcus, sweetheart. A small party would be easier, but I wouldn’t want to exclude anyone. I know how much your whole class loves it.”

                “But Mom…”

                “Clarke…” Her tone was not angry, but it was a clear warning: she’d be angry soon if Clarke didn’t drop the subject.

                The mother and daughter stared at one another for a few moments, then Clarke sighed. “I’ll leave it alone. But at least think about it?”

               

\--

 

                Abby had no intention whatsoever of thinking about it, but it seemed that Marcus had other ideas. After the children went to bed that night, he and Abby stayed up to watch the news, and it was during a commercial break that he looked to her and said, “Can we talk about Halloween?”

                “Oh, yes, I totally forgot. Thank you for supporting me, babe.” She didn’t even look at him; she just scooted a bit closer to him on the couch and squeezed his hand. “It would have been much harder to convince Clarke that a party was a bad idea if she thought you would have been alright with it.”

                “That was kind of what I figured, yes…” Marcus said slowly. “Which is why I didn’t say this at dinner, but I honestly do still think it would be a great idea.”

                Abby immediately moved away from Marcus so that she could turn to stare at him. “You do? But you didn’t… you didn’t make up what you said. I can tell when you’re bull shitting the kids, and you were being honest.”

                Marcus chuckled. “Sure, I wasn’t lying. It would probably feel a little overcrowded in here, and that’s a valid reason to say no. But the kids wouldn’t care, and we both know it. If they were stuck inside, they’d sit around trading candy and we’d have snacks and movies ready and it would go just fine.” He paused briefly, and when he spoke again, his voice was softer. “I also just… I know it would make the girls so happy. The rest of the class too, of course, but think of how much it would mean to Clarke and Octavia.”

                “Are you really so strongly in favor of this?”

                He shrugged. “Are you really so strongly against it? It could be fun, dressing up, taking the kids out with the other parents and then coming back here. If it’s a decent night, we could even use the fire pit out back. I’m sure they would all love that.”

                She couldn’t help giggling as she raised her eyebrows. “You’re laying it on thick, Marcus. Alright, I guess it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we had a Halloween party. I just want you to remember this moment when we’re surrounded by nearly two dozen 10- and 11-year-olds high on sugar.”

                “Yeah, when the time comes, I probably will say it was all your idea,” Marcus admitted. And Abby rolled her eyes, but she curled in close to him again as he kissed her on the cheek.

 

\--

 

                Since getting married, Abby and Marcus had had a fair number of small get-togethers at their house, but nothing as large-scale as this Halloween party, and nothing oriented so heavily toward children. Consequently, they were relatively flummoxed in the weeks leading up to October 31st, conflicted over who to dress up as, how much food to prepare, and how to up their decoration game.

                After Clarke and Octavia distributed the invitations to the party, Marcus and Abby also began to receive phone calls from parents who wanted to become more familiar with the people whose house their children would be at. More than once, Marcus hung up feeling particularly huffy after receiving peculiarly invasive questions about why Clarke and Octavia had different last names if they were sisters.

                “It’s none of their business,” he grumbled to Abby after one such conversation. “We shouldn’t have to explain our family tree for them to be okay with their children coming into our house.”

                “I know, babe.” By this point, Abby had heard this rant before, so she knew not to offer any reassurance and barely even looked up from her book; she just curled her hand over the back of his neck and stroked at his hair.

                “I could have asked Finn Collins’s mother why she and his father got divorced, but believe it or not, I decided that would be nosy,” he muttered. “Maybe I’ll ask John Murphy’s dad how a single parent can afford that enormous house and Ferrari on a teacher’s salary. How does that sound?”

                Abby smirked and mumbled to herself, “Sounds like a plan.”

                “Because we _all know_ , Abby. The only reason I’d ask is if I wanted to make them uncomfortable. The only reason to ask me is to make me uncomfortable. Which fucking sucks, Abby. Taking in Bell and Octavia was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, so why do I always come away from these conversations feeling like it was a shitty thing to do?”

                Now, because Marcus had actually arrived to the point that was bothering him, Abby did shut her book and look up at him, her eyes tender. “You’ve done everything right, and if they can’t see it, that’s not your fault.”

                “I haven’t done _everything_ right,” he scoffed.

                “You’ve done as much right as any parent probably could,” Abby amended. “Octavia and Bellamy love you. They’re your children. They’re _our_ children. I wish you wouldn’t let it get to you when anyone implies otherwise.”

                Marcus’s mouth twitched as he nearly smiled. “You know I try not to.”

                She nodded carefully. “I know you do.”

                “But I…” He stammered toward words for an instant. “Thank you for loving them. And me.”

                Abby gave him a ghost of a smile; in the moment, anything more would have felt insincere. “Thank you for loving Clarke. And me.”

 

\--

 

                “Octavia and I have been talking, and we don’t want to do the superhero theme anymore,” Clarke informed Abby and Marcus at the breakfast table one morning.

                “You don’t want to do the superhero theme?” Bellamy exclaimed, aghast.

                Although he’d been opposed to the party initially, Bellamy had since realized that it meant that Abby and Marcus would allow him to spend more time out trick-or-treating with his friends before instructing him to return home. At that point, he became much more agreeable as they began to make plans for the holiday, even going so far as to offer to dress up as Robin when he learned that Marcus had chosen to spend the holiday as Batman.

                “Nope. We want to do our own things,” Octavia agreed. “I was thinking I’d like to be a butterfly.”

                “Sweetheart, you’re a butterfly practically every other year,” Marcus pointed out. “Don’t you think it would be fun to do a theme for a change?”

                “But that would be going against tradition, Dad. I really think it’s a butterfly year.”

                Marcus sighed. “Alright. And what about you, Clarke? What are you thinking?”

                “Wells and I have decided to be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.”

                “Oh, you’re such a traitor,” he moaned. “Abby, our kids are abandoning us.”

                “I’m not,” Bellamy said gently. “I’m excited to be Robin.”

                “Of course you are.” Marcus reached across the table and clapped Bellamy on the arm. “I always knew you were my favorite.”

                Clarke turned to look at Abby. “Mom, have you picked a superhero yet?”

                Abby sighed and shook her head. “I’m still conflicted. I don’t know if I should carry on with the DC theme or spread out to Marvel.”

                “Like it’s a question…” Marcus mumbled.

                But Abby ignored her husband’s comment and continued, “I’ll have it figured out within the week.”

 

\--

 

                Every Halloween, Marcus talked Abby out of carving pumpkins, and this year, he was reminded why: he’d always been God awful at it.

                He didn’t like the smell of the inside of the pumpkin and he didn’t like the way that the goo clung to his hands as he scraped his fingers across the walls to get it clean – because those scoopers never seemed to work the way they were supposed to. He also didn’t like to eat pumpkin seeds raw or cooked, so that wasn’t even something to look forward to.

                And that was before they even got to the actual carving. When it came to the pictures that he tried to make, he was always something of an overachiever: either he ended up with narrow lines and lots of corners, or he misjudged the structure of his masterpiece and ended up spending three hours on a pumpkin to make something that didn’t look remotely like it was supposed to.

                But Clarke, Octavia, and Bellamy were all having a blast. The family had decided together that they wanted enough pumpkins to be able to place some on the front porch and some in the backyard, so each of the kids got to clean out two pumpkins and plan designs for them.

                And so Marcus loved carving the pumpkins in a way that he never had. More than once, Abby still caught him swearing under his breath, but she would lean down and kiss his cheek or wrap her arm across his back to settle at his hip, and suddenly he felt quite settled.

 

\--

 

                Abby settled on Wonder Woman about a week before Halloween. She had no plans whatsoever of investing in a legitimate costume as Marcus and Bellamy had done. Instead, she found a tee-shirt that mimicked the top of Wonder Woman’s leotard, and she created an ensemble of tights, shorts, and boots – the two latter of which were great thrift shop finds – that resembled the original outfit as well as she could manage.

                She looked quite cute in this outfit (and Marcus made a particular point of mumbling these words against her mouth right before they walked out the door), but as soon as they stepped out into the crisp fall air, she began to regret her costume choice, even with her jacket and tights on. As they walked to meet the children and the other parents after school, her legs trembled against the wind.

                “You know you don’t have to be dressed up to take them out,” Marcus told her gently. They’d only walked two blocks, but by the way Abby had curled into herself within her coat, it would have been difficult to miss how cold she was.

                “But I always dress up for trick-or-treating,” she pouted.

                “I should have fought harder for that witch hat or the cat ears,” he sighed.

                “Hats and animal ears don’t count as costumes, babe.”

                Marcus looked her up and down skeptically, but he could tell that there was no point in arguing. Not that he was going to complain much. One think about Abby getting cold – and she got cold a lot – was that she always solved it by making him hug her tightly.

 

\--

 

                The Griffin-Kane household was full to bursting by 5:30 that evening. Some parents lingered briefly to help Marcus and Abby put out the food and get the kids settled.

                It was a mild enough night that the kids did take Marcus up on the opportunity to have a warm fire outside. So David Miller stuck around longer than many of the other parents to help Abby and Marcus get a good fire going.

                “David, I love Nathan’s pirate costume,” Marcus told him as they were assembling the logs.

                “Yes, me too!” Abby agreed. “I think the parrot makes it. You must have spent ages painting that fake parrot—the feathers look unbelievably life-like.”

                “I was up most of the night,” David admitted. “Nathan didn’t settle on the pirate for sure until earlier this week, and I’ve been so busy that the parrot almost didn’t happen. It was worth it, though.”

                After a brief pause, he added, “Also, I’d really like to thank you both for throwing this party. I think Nathan would have been devastated if he didn’t get to go to the class’s last Halloween party before middle school.”

                “Of course, of course.” Abby gave him a smile. “It’s going to be a blast.”

 

\--

 

                Marcus and Abby were exhausted, and they were no longer having a blast. The kids were in the middle of _Hocus Pocus_ , and between mumbled comments about wanting to go upstairs and watch _Rocky Horror_ with Abby, Marcus was nibbling on pieces of candy to stay awake.

                They couldn’t believe that they’d decided to let the party go longer just because Halloween was on a Friday.

                It was around this time that Marcus leaned over and mumbled, “This was all your idea,” and Abby was too worn-out to argue. Instead, she sighed and rolled her eyes.

                Then she thought about it some more and added, “Want to go steal some of the kids’ candy?”

 

\--

 

                Their second wind came at the end of the movie, at which point the kids were ready to start playing games again. Abby sat in the kitchen for a while, chatting with Monty Green and Jasper Jordan, who were dressed as Mario and Luigi.

                Meanwhile, Marcus got roped into a very competitive game of Uno with Octavia, John Murphy, Raven Reyes, and Finn Collins. When Abby came to find him, he was staring John Murphy down, both of them left with only one card. She hovered over the circle, mildly exasperated but also amused when Marcus didn’t notice her right away.

                “Have I mentioned that I love your zombie make-up, John?” she asked.

                 Marcus finally registered her presence and looked up, grinning abashedly.

                “Thank you, Mrs. Kane,” John Murphy mumbled into his card. But he blinked at her and the side of his mouth quirked up into a smile. Something about it actually felt uncomfortably sincere.

                “And Raven, you make a wonderful cat. Did your mom or dad help you with the spots on your face?”

                Raven kept her eyes flitting between Marcus and Murphy as she pulled a card from the draw pile. “No, Mrs. Kane, I actually did it myself.”

                “Did you really?” Abby tried to conceal her surprise and failed rather miserably, but she hoped that Raven would understand that she was merely impressed.

                “When I sat down with these kids, I took one look at Finn’s costume and told them all the story about how you were Robin Hood for Halloween one year.”

                “Oh yeah!” Finn stared at Abby eagerly. “But he didn’t mention, how old were you, Mrs. Kane?”

                Abby was on the verge of laughing, and she only barely managed to maintain a cool demeanor as she told him, “I think I was 32.”

                Octavia giggled. “Mom still likes to do cool costumes, Finn.”

                Marcus beamed proudly up at Abby. “Yeah, she does.”

                John Murphy plopped his final card onto the pile and informed them, “Uno out.”

                Murphy’s win wiped the smile off Marcus’s face pretty quickly as he said, “ _No_ , I was so close!”

                “Think you’d be willing to forfeit, dear? I was going to ask if you could help me bring some more snacks downstairs for the kids playing Mario Kart.”

                “I suppose I can be of assistance,” he agreed. He rose to his feet and pointed between the children. “You four are lucky to be rid of me. Next game, I would have gotten you all back for that draw twelve.”

                “Whatever you say, Dad,” Octavia called after him.

                The kitchen was empty when they arrived, and Marcus immediately heaved a loud sigh and wrapped his arms around Abby. “I’m so sleepy, Abby. Remind me why I wanted to do this?”

                “I think you said something about happy children,” she sighed against his shoulder.

                “Never listen to me again,” he instructed.

                Abby giggled and stood up on her toes so that she could peck him on the lips. “I know you’re having fun, babe. And it’s got me thinking.”

                “Yes?” He sounded rather reluctant as he pulled away and the two of them moved to the empty food bowls.

                “What if we did this again next year? Just, one for our friends, not for the kids.”

                Marcus considered this briefly, then just sighted and shook his head. “Ask me again when I haven’t just been destroyed in Uno by fifth graders.”

 

\--

 

                Because Thelonious was out of town, he, Marcus, and Abby had agreed that Wells and Clarke could just have a sleepover after the Halloween party. Consequently, the two children raced up to Clarke’s room to get Wells settled in as soon as the rest of the guests had left. Octavia was close behind, worn out from the party and ready to clean her face paint off and go straight to sleep.

                Abby and Marcus lingered downstairs for some time, sitting at the kitchen table, nibbling at candy, holding hands, and saying very little.

                “I’m glad you fought for this,” Abby told him eventually.

                “Me too,” Marcus agreed quietly. “It was mostly fun because we were doing it together.”

                She covered up her blush by teasing him: “You say that like you like me or something.”

                He giggled and leaned in so he could kiss her neck. “I love you a lot.”

                “I love you, Marcus,” Abby echoed with a chuckle. Squeezing his hand, she asked, “Now, want to go watch _Rocky Horror_ downstairs?”

                Marcus smiled against her skin. “You know me so well.”


End file.
